Meritus ties up NetBooker deal

18 April 2006

Meritus Hotels & Resorts has taken big steps to improve its online commerce by implementing the NetBooker system from Pegasus Solutions.Meritus has a total of nine five-star properties located in key countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China. “The NetBooker engine will further support our revenue-generating objectives,” said Frank Foster, senior vice president—marketing and sales, Meritus Hotels & Resorts. “Using this technology will allow us to effectively drive and maximize some of our core products, such as Meritus Best Rates and Weekends. The engine is fast, efficient and easy to use for our customers, and we are absolutely delighted to be one of the pioneers that will be using this new system.”

The NetBooker hosted Internet booking engine will power hotel reservations at Meritus’ website. NetBooker lets hotel chains centralize availability and rates in one place. The engine connects to a hotel’s central reservation system through Pegasus’ XML interface. NetBooker integrates seamlessly with the existing look and feel of the chain’s site; hoteliers can add their own logos, images and graphics. The NetBooker engine comes with a broad range of customizable features and templates and is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

“The functionality of the NetBooker system will enable customers to book with ease and flexibility,” said William Chua, director of revenue strategy, Meritus Hotels & Resorts. “It will also generate a higher conversion rate and enable us to track and monitor the bookings.”

“Using this innovative technology should give Meritus a major competitive advantage,” said Olivier Dombey, Pegasus’ regional vice president of sales for Asia Pacific. “Savvy hoteliers know that online commerce is expanding, and more consumers are going straight to hotels’ own branded Web sites. These sites have to delight and impress your prospective guests, giving them the features and tools they have come to expect from online sites. The NetBooker engine does this very powerfully for Meritus.”

Meritus has been a Pegasus customer since 2004. The hotel company uses the Utell by Pegasus representation services and call center services on a private-label basis, in addition to the PegsTour service, which automates hotel reservations between hotel groups and tour operators.——-